Everything is Simple PreOotP
by Phoenix Of Hope
Summary: Pre-OotP short LJ ficlette. 7th year.


'Everything is simple' By Ricca  
  
"Mr. Potter, I don't see how someone as smart as you can do so poorly on a test." Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was speaking to James Potter after class, one day in early spring of James' 7th and final year at the school.  
  
"Professor- I can explain- you see quidditch-" James began, but was cut off.  
  
"That's your problem James, you care more about quidditch than your studies. You're head boy James, and excellent at Transfiguration. You shouldn't be failing a simple charms test." Professor Flitwick stood atop his pile of books on his chair, the only way that Flitwick would be able to see over his desk. Professor Flitwick stood about 3'2", so it was hard for students to take him seriously sometimes, especially when he fell off his pile of books.  
  
"I'm sorry Professor, it won't happen again." James sighed, wishing there was someway out of this. He was failing two classes- Charms and Muggle Studies, and his grades in his other classes were pretty abysmal. But, on the other hand, the Gryffindor Lions quidditch team was doing spectacularly- they trampled every single team thrown at them. There was no doubt that James would lead the Gryffindors to the victory of the Inter-house Quidditch Cup. James had been captain of the Gryffindor team for two years now, and this was his third. And both years that he was captain, the Gryffindors won every match; half the reason for that was all the extenuating practices James ran them through.  
  
"You're right, it's not going to. I'm assigning a major project in class tomorrow- you will be paired with someone who will help you understand the material." Professor Flitwick smiled.  
  
"You mean, bookwor-? I mean, of course, Lily Evans?" James caught himself mid nickname. It was common knowledge that Lily Evans, head girl and another Gryffindor 7th year, hated the nickname 'Bookworm Lily', though many people called her by it anyway. Lily was book smart, and was the perfect image of a geek, a nerd- a bookworm. Lily wore glasses- thick black frames- and never really cared much for fashion. In essence she was short, wore glasses, and had messy hair. The exact opposite of what any guy with eyes wanted; the only redeeming quality that guys could see was that she was curvy, which was why she hated most guys. Lily was the nicest, sweetest girl if you gave her a chance, but as many people did not, all they got was excessive biting sarcasm and wit.  
  
"Yes, Miss Evans will be your partner. I wanted to let you know ahead of time about this project, since you need an A on this project and the next test to pass this class. Maybe you should concentrate less on quidditch and more on schoolwork." Flitwick raised a hand, as James was about to interrupt, "I know you feel like you have to practice, practice, practice. Well, you and I both know that canceling a practice or two wouldn't make you lose the cup. Even if you didn't practice for the rest of the year, you'd probably still win." Flitwick smiled.  
  
"Now, Mr. Potter, you have to get to lunch." James nodded and left the classroom.  
  
[I]'Great, because you screwed up, Potter, you're stuck doing a project with Bookworm Lily. That'll be fun- NOT! She's got a smart mouth on her. Ugh, it would be better if she was at least something to look at, but no, she's not. She's freaking bookworm Lily!'[/I] James grumbled to himself as he went to lunch. He made it to the Great Hall and sat with his three best friends in the world, the Marauders.  
  
The Marauders were a famous bunch about the school. Comprised of four boys, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, the four of them were amongst the most well-liked students. Well, it was mostly James, Sirius and Remus- Peter pretty much tagged along. Nobody really knew why they let Peter tag along, he was the opposite of the rest of them: James Remus and Sirius were all tall, dark haired and gorgeous. Peter was short, pudgy and had strawberry blonde hair that needed a good hair cut. James was the best looking of them all, of course. He had dark blue eyes- the exact shade of blue as a sapphire, and he had unruly jet black hair. Unlike Peter's hair which just needed a cut, James' hair was wild. It just grew that way- so, James kept it rather short so it would kind of spike on its own. Sirius had steel gray eyes, and dark brown hair, which he kept highlighting- he was very vain, always going on about his looks. Remus was quiet, like Peter, though Remus stayed quiet because he was of few words; Peter was trying to hide his stupidity. Remus had friendly brown eyes and medium brown hair. The four of them together looked alright, but James, Remus, and Sirius together looked like a miracle had occurred when these fine boys walked down the hall. So what did these interesting, well-liked, HOTT boys do? They pulled pranks, in James' and Sirius' cases- played quidditch, and generally were a great source of entertainment. Remus came up with the witty remarks, while Sirius was the class clown, and James just rolled his eyes. Peter, hung on the outskirts, glad he was apart of things, not to mention he always screwed up- which added to the entertainment.  
  
"So what did the midget want? Sirius asked good-naturedly as James sat down, five minutes later than the rest of them.  
  
"I'm failing Charms, and we're getting some huge project tomorrow in class." James sighed, serving himself some food.  
  
"Well, that sounds like fun." Remus rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hey- I'll work with you on that project- it'll be a cinch!" Sirius offered.  
  
"I can't- Flitwick assigned me a partner." James grumbled.  
  
"Who? Remus?" Sirius asked, because Remus was, indeed, quite smart.  
  
"No. Bookworm Lily." James told them.  
  
"Oh! Sucks for you!" Sirius laughed at his friend's 'misfortune'.  
  
"It could be worse." Remus pointed out.  
  
"How?" James asked.  
  
"Never mind, it can't!" Remus and Sirius howled with laughter, both of them sounding rather dog/wolf like.  
  
"Hardy-har-har. Very funny." James ignored them and finished lunch, trying to concentrate on his classes so he wouldn't get any extra work, which was common for students who were having trouble in a class.  
  
The next morning flew by for James, which was the exact opposite of what James wanted time to do. Time has such a funny habit to speed up when you want it to slow down and visa versa. When James noticed this, he hoped to use some reverse psychology on himself and make himself believe that he wanted time to speed up, so it would seem slow. Though a great idea it was, it didn't work.  
  
"So today I'm giving you a project- it will be due tomorrow!" Professor Flitwick told the 7th year Gryffindor Charms class, which groaned.  
  
"Its worth 150 points, so do a good job! You will choose partners, and then come and get your topic. You must think of a way to present it and teach it to the class. This is your review for your unit test on Friday." Flitwick continued, making the 7th year Gryffindors even more depressed. They only had one day to complete this huge project.  
  
"Now- go choose your partners! May I see Mr. Potter and Miss Evans up here please?" Flitwick called over the noise, which had erupted from the class.  
  
"Yes Professor?" Lily greeted him as soon as she quickly made it to the front of the room. [I]'Brown-noser.'[/I] James thought condescendingly.  
  
"Miss Evans, I am asking you to work with James on this project; he needs to get an A to pass this class. I think you could help him the most." Flitwick lowered his voice so that the noisy students wouldn't hear him, not like they cared.  
  
"Yes, Professor, I'll do it." Lily said dully. She didn't like James Potter - he constantly made fun of her for various reasons, whether it was that she wasn't pretty enough, her glasses, her height- James always found something she disliked about herself to rub her nose in. The only reason she was even agreeing to help him, was because Professor Flitwick, her favorite professor of her favorite class had asked to her nicely. Besides, it was nice to hear that you were the best person for a job.  
  
"So- Lil, I guess we're working together, huh?" James smiled his 'I'm so hott, don't you agree?' smile, coming over to Lily.  
  
"Yeah." Lily answered listlessly. This was gonna be hell.  
  
"So- do you have our topic?" James asked.  
  
"No, I thought you had gone to get it." Lily replied tonelessly.  
  
"Ok- I guess I'll go get it." James offered and joined the queue to choose a topic. They ended up getting the hardest one- "Explain the Fundamentals of Aparating and Disaparating" This was a topic many adults couldn't explain, as many adults couldn't aparate. They liked brooms better: safer and slower.  
  
"Great. A topic no one frickin' understands." James grumbled to Lily once he had gotten their topic.  
  
"Well, I understand it." Lily told him quite plainly. James looked at her funnily. [I]'What's her problem?'[/I]  
  
"Think you could explain it to me, your partner?" James was getting slightly aggravated.  
  
"If you ask like that, no." Lily answered.  
  
"Then how should I ask, oh-great-bookworm?" James sneered.  
  
"You should ask me like you actually want to hear what I have to say, not because you have to do it. And, I don't want you treating me as an inferior, 'cause right now, you are." Lily spat back at him, making it plain she wasn't going to stand for any horse pucky.  
  
"Ok," James modified his voice, hoping he would sound somewhat sincere- he really needed to pass this class. "Would you please explain to me the," James check their topic sheet, "Fundamentals of Aparating and Disaparating?"  
  
"Ok, lets sit down, this may take awhile." Lily decided, waving James over to a pair of unoccupied desks.  
  
"So, what do you know about Aparating?" Lily asked.  
  
"Um, you disappear from one place and reappear in another." James told her truthfully.  
  
"Ok, this is what you have wrong. You don't just disappear and reappear with a pop. Let me relate this to something you might understand." Lily's eyes strayed to his muggle studies book coming out of his bag.  
  
"May I see that book?" Lily pointed to the textbook.  
  
"Uh, Sure." James shrugged.  
  
"Ok- this is a Boeing 747. Big airplane- can hold about 165 passengers. This is a fighter plane- a B-14; holds a pilot and maybe a few others. Which do you think is faster?" Lily flipped through the book until she found the pictures of the airplanes.  
  
"The B-14." James wondered what this had to do with Aparating- this was what his test in Muggle Studies was on- this wasn't charms work.  
  
"Exactly. Which would be a faster way to travel- in one solid large piece- or millions of tiny molecules?" Lily asked, smiling at her analogy.  
  
"Molecules?" James tried.  
  
"Yes. So when you disaparate, the popping sound is your body separating into millions of billions of molecules, then traveling faster that the speed of light to your destination. Once there, the molecules come back together and form your body. That's why aparating is so dangerous- if you're not careful, you can leave a piece of you behind or send part of yourself to the wrong place- that's splinching. Then you can't move forwards or backwards- your body is stuck into two different places- imagine both of your arms pulled in opposite directions with equal force, that's why you can't move. So, you're stuck waiting for the Accidental Magic squad to come and fix your situation. That, basically, is aparation." Lily finished.  
  
"That's easy. How come they just don't explain it that way in the book? It would be a lot faster and easier." James grinned, Lily was very good a teaching- he understood aparating, finally!  
  
"Its not 'scientifically correct', and many wizards don't know what molecules are." Lily replied.  
  
"Yeah- my parents probably couldn't tell you what they were." James laughed.  
  
"So, how do you want to explain this to the class?" Lily asked, getting back on task.  
  
"Well, a lot like how you explained it to me- smaller things move faster than larger objects- and that we separate into molecules and go that way." James suggested.  
  
"Ok- so I'll write a short lecture on this, can you make a visual? Like a diagram or something?" Lily proposed.  
  
"Sure, sounds great." James smiled, [I]'Maybe this project won't be so bad.'[/I]  
  
"Lets get to work then." Lily smiled back, pulling out a quill and some parchment. She wrote down basically what she explained to James, re-wording some of it, but keeping it simple to follow. James drew a very nice diagram, and showed it to Lily.  
  
"That's good- it will have to be bigger though." Lily commented when James showed her his diagram.  
  
"No problem." James grinned and cast a spell over it "[I]Engorgio![/I]" The diagram became the size of a large poster.  
  
"Good." Lily nodded. She duplicated her speech and then pulled out her muggle highlighter, highlighting the parts that James was supposed to say.  
  
"There you go." Lily handed him his copy of their lecture.  
  
"That's it?" James asked, amazed- this topic seemed so. difficult.  
  
"Yeah, its almost exactly what I said to you. The topic is quite easy when explained right, as most things are." Lily let a smile creep onto her lips- James was actually nice to work with when he wasn't making fun of her.  
  
"Awesome." James decided that Lily wasn't all that bad to work with - she really had a knack for explaining complex things. In fact, she made aparation sound. simple. Plus, Lily was great to be around if she wasn't being sarcastic. The bell rang, signaling the end of charms.  
  
"Looks like we're done, and don't have to work tonight." James grinned as students around them made hurried plans to meet up and finish their projects.  
  
"Yeah, it does." Lily replied as she packed up her bag, taking more time than usual and purposely moving slowly. James said something to Sirius, then to Lily's amazement, also stayed behind, packing up slowly. Soon, they were the only ones in the classroom- everyone else had gone to lunch.  
  
"Lily?" James caught her hand as she was about to leave. Startled, Lily pulled away.  
  
"Yeah?" She asked cautiously.  
  
"I wanted to thank you for helping me. I think I might actually pass this class." James gave a short laugh.  
  
"Hey- no problem." Lily shrugged.  
  
"How come you were so nice to me today? Not once during the whole time you were explaining did I hear that famous sarcasm of yours." James questioned, leaning against the doorframe, effectively blocking the door.  
  
"You asked nicely." Lily shrugged again, and tried to leave.  
  
"That's it?" James raised an eyebrow, unbelievingly, and not moving so Lily could leave.  
  
"Yes, everything is simple when explained right." Lily sighed. "Can I leave now?"  
  
"I guess. Still don't understand why you were so nice to me today." James moved from the doorway, and Lily went through.  
  
"Why do you care so much?" Lily turned around, curious.  
  
"Its interesting how you can go from biting remarks to being. well, sweet." It was James' turn to shrug.  
  
"You never gave me a chance before. All you ever had to do was be nice to me. You get what you give." Lily told him.  
  
"Have I really been that horrible to you?" James asked, clearly not knowing.  
  
"Yeah, you and the rest of the Marauders. The four of you make fun of me, or have you already forgotten that? Its always about my height or looks. So what if I'm not Barbie? I don't care if I'm not pretty. You didn't have to point it out though." Lily took this as her chance to maybe set something straight with a Marauder. Maybe they'd leave her alone.  
  
"I never, not once, said you weren't pretty." James told her.  
  
"What?" That caught Lily off guard.  
  
"I never said you weren't pretty. You're a beautiful person, inside and out. I just never saw it before." James said, nonchalant.  
  
"Erm, thanks, I guess." Lily always got uncomfortable when people complimented her, she never knew quite what to say. She thought James was acting just plain weird now- he had NEVER shown any interest in her, and Lily had never thought of James in that way before.  
  
"No problem- hey you think you might be able to help me with my muggle studies tonight?" James stopped Lily as she was leaving again.  
  
"Ok- but you have to supply some butterbeer." Lily smiled.  
  
"Sure, anything." James answered, "I'll meet you in the common room at 7 and we'll sneak into Hogsmeade?"  
  
"Ok. Till then." Lily nodded  
  
"Till then." James echoed, and the two of them left the Charms classroom, both of them going in opposite directions. for the time being. 


End file.
